The mobile phone company, 3, has recently put its second Skypephone out to pasture (called ‘S2’ for short). Not only does its new baby have a new and improved interface that’s easier for customers to use, it also has something of a split personality. Plug the Skypephone 2 into your laptop or PC via the USB cable and it doubles up as a mobile broadband modem or dongle.
The thinking behind 3’s design of their newest model was to take as much of the sting (or angst) out of the use of the internet on mobile phones as much as possible. With that in mind, 3 has also built in a key that enables the user to switch between programs in a carousel-like fashion, doing away with menus that were too fiddle-some.
On the handset are internet applications similar to what customers would find on their desktops or laptops – familiar applications such as Windows Live Messenger, Facebook and Google. With the in-built Skype application, 3 customers can accesss the high speed 3G HSDPA network to make free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world or send Skype Chat messages. Your Skype contacts sync nicely into the phones address book and you can display which of your friends are online just like on a computer.
The S2 is a second generation VOIP phone. The brushed alluminium and black plastic fascia give it a solid, classy feel. Other feature include a 3.2 mega pixel camera, MicroSD slot , 50 Mb of onboard memory and a 2.2in QVGA screen.